


Amusement parks are not just for kids, y'know!

by Pendule



Category: Gintama
Genre: Amusement Parks, Dadtoki, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, M/M, Mutual Pining, No Angst, No Spoilers, Pining Idiots, Smoking, non-established relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-02
Updated: 2020-09-12
Packaged: 2021-03-06 22:41:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 10,942
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26256580
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pendule/pseuds/Pendule
Summary: The Shinsengumi goes to an attraction park, and even though Hijikata doesn’t want to go, he still complies. Yet once he’s there, he quickly realises that his day is not going to go as planned since some Yorozuya Agency and tricky kids have decided to join the party.
Relationships: Hijikata Toshirou/Sakata Gintoki
Comments: 8
Kudos: 77





	1. Can you really have fun activities when your boss is around?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey!  
> First of all, I'm a non-native English speaker, so I'm sorry if there's any mistake.
> 
> So, I was initially inspired by that tumblr post with a picture of a woman in an amusement park smiling in front of a huge sign that says "Singles will be paired", and then I kind of... disgressed. But I hope that you will enjoy this fic, it was really fun to write!
> 
> Also, I expected it to be a short fic, like 3k words, not 11k! So I decided to split it in a two-chapters fic instead of a one-shot, because it would have been too long!
> 
> See you at the end!

Hijikata was pissed off. As the Vice-Commander of the Shinsengumi, he was used to being listened to, feared, and followed. His opinion was important and his orders were inarguable. Yet, at this exact moment, he wasn’t sure about who was in charge anymore.

He was walking faster than usual, following Kondou, Sougo and Yamazaki closely as they were talking happily and loudly about all the things surrounding them. He had been forced to toss his cigarette at the entrance of the park on the pretext that “there are young kids sir, the smoke is not good for them” so he was left with nothing else to do than following silently, fidgeting with coins he’d found in his trousers’ pocket. It wasn’t his fault if kids were not allowed to smoke, right? So why would HE have to restrain for those nuisances on legs? Unbelievable.

The day had just started and he already wanted it to end. Who had gotten that stupid idea to go at the attraction park with the whole brigade again? Oh yeah, Kondou. The commander had insisted on making an activity with the whole Shinsengumi to get some rest after a particularly tough fight against some joui patriots. Of course Hijikata had been against it, but the whole branch had happily agreed and it had been decided that they would go to the attraction park nearby on Thursday.

Sougo had seemed genuinely enthusiastic at the news and hadn’t even tried to kill him since the decision was taken. Which was a first. Yet, it didn’t make things any better. Hijikata hated this kind of place. Full of children and uselessly nice and excessively happy people. And he couldn’t even smoke, god damnit.

The men had immediately dispersed in small groups right at the entrance of the park and Hijikata was now left wandering with Kondou, Sougo and Yamazaki. They wandered around slowly, they were in no hurry, after all. Kondou first insisted on playing to the basics, like the rifle shooting, which was the first “attraction” of the day they tried. Though there wasn’t much need to try as, even though he was a samurai, Kondou was also a really good shooter. He’d had the “chance” to get a few weeks of training with Matsudaira when the latter had wanted to go to vacation but ShigeShige hadn’t been able to come with him and Matsudaira didn’t want to go alone.

Anyway, Kondou took the rifle between his hands, and, with a proud smile plastered on his face, and after his buckshots all reached the centre, the Commander turned towards Sougo, urging him to come closer. Curious, the young man joined him, and Kondou showed him the table where the winning prices were disposed. After a few seconds of consideration, the brown-haired boy set his heart on a bright red stuffed animal that seemed to be a crab, Hijikata couldn’t tell from where he was. Though the distance didn’t make him miss the bright smile Kondou offered to the younger man and the small ruffling of the boy’s hair as he walked past him to get back to Hijikata and Yamazaki. Surprisingly, Sougo said nothing at that, barely noticing as he was inspecting his crab from closer, a small smile on his face.

They started to walk away after that, Kondo insisting on doing every attraction on the way, and Yamazaki and Hijikata practically had to physically hold the man back when he walked towards the hook-a-duck stand. The men really didn’t want to see their Commander fishing plastic duck in a ridiculously small tub with a fishing rod way too small compared to the man’s big hands, next to kids. Kondou walked away grumbling after that, and it was decided that they had already explored this side of the park enough and that they could move away from it.

On their way, Sougo walked past Hijikata, shooting him a dirty glare with his eyes filled with a mischievous glint Hijikata knew too well. The younger boy reached Kondou, saying loudly as to be well heard by his Vice-Commander, ‘I’ll be able to test all kind of tortures on this stuffed-crab to see which one would fit asshole Hijikata the better, so thank you for that, Kondo-san’.

The Vice-Commander was about to protest when Kondo turned to look at Sougo straight in the eyes, with a puppy-like pout. ‘But what are you going to do to Crabby-kun, Sougo? Do you really think this cute face deserves so much hatred? I won it for you, you should enjoy it!’, he said with a quaver in his voice no one could decipher whether it was fake or not.

It didn’t matter as Sougo couldn’t resist either, so he immediately replied ‘That’s okay Kondo-san, Crabby-kun will be my assistant, he’ll assist me on my testing on the real Hijikata-kun, then’. The change in Crabby-kun’s fate didn’t seem to do much to help Hijikata’s, and the man realised that Kondou had rather prefered to save Crabby-kun from pain and quite openly ignored Sougo’s obvious threats on Hijikata.

The Vice-Commander was about to point it out when Yamazaki, silent until then, pointed excitedly at an attraction as they were reaching an intersection, eyes practically shining. The man almost dragged the others towards the attraction, leaving them no choice. Hijikata wasn’t feeling like going into a lively attraction right now, but he was willing to do it if it meant that he stayed far away from the sadistic boy who seemed to have decided to plan his end. He eyed the queue and pleasantly noted that since it looked quite empty, it wouldn’t probably take too long to enter the ride. All four of them reached the start of the line and were stopped by a man dressed with the colours of the park. ‘Sirs, are you all four together?’ They agreed by a nod. ‘Well, I am sorry but the seats only allow three people by wagon, I am afraid you will not be able to go together’.

Yes, thought Hijikata, it was his chance, he could step out and wait for them outside, it was not a problem. He was going to suggest it before the man started talking again. ‘If you want, there is a queue for people alone, which fills the wagon when there are only two people or when no one is queuing.’

Kondou’s smile widened before he slapped Hijikata’s back vigorously, ‘Oh yes Toshi go on, I want to see you enjoy yourself just like us, come on, get in that queue and we’ll see you outside!’ He pushed him towards the line and Hijikata couldn’t even protest before he found himself reaching the said line.

There was only one man waiting, so he stayed at a respectable distance, leaning on the railing at his left, patting his cigarettes’ pack into his pocket that was waiting for him. He could feel the need to have a smoke slowly creeping into his mind and the urge to light one growing stronger each passing second. But before he could reach the pack into his pocket, another person stepped next to him. The person grunted, a hand brushing their hair while they leaned their back against the railing opposite to Hijikata.

The Vice-Commander looked up, taking a better look at the newcomer. His eyes widened as his mind went blank. Fucking hell, this had to be a joke. The other man looked up and his eyes caught Hijikata’s, his face probably looking just like his. ‘Ogushi-kun! What are you doing here?’ Hijikata gritted his teeth. From all the people of Edo, he had to end up face to face with him. Not Katsura, not Matsudaira, not even Takasugi, no, fucking Sakata Gintoki, again?

That was it, the last straw. He swiftly pulled his packet out of his pocket, grabbing his mayonnaise lighter, adroitly placing a cigarette between his lips. The weather was quite windy so he had to place a hand around his cig to protect the flame from the wind. After two attempts he succeeded and finally took a drag. Finally. He decided that he would follow his urge to ignore the man in front of him. If he acted like he wasn’t here, then he wasn’t really here, right?

The relief was only short-lived because hardly 1 minute passed before he heard a voice next to him. ‘Excuse me sir, but you’re not allowed to smoke in the park, there’s children around’. For the umpteenth time he looked up, ready to throw his scariest glare in order to get rid of the annoying staff member but it failed when he saw the staff in question.

‘Oh Hijikata-san, that’s you, didn’t know you were here’ said Hasegawa, scratching the back of his head, his notorious sunglasses still sitting proudly on his nose, as always. He hummed in acknowledgment. ‘Well, I’m sorry but you still have to put your cigarette out, though, I could get into trouble if you didn’t’. Hijikata weighed up the pros and cons, and with a sigh he took a last drag before letting his cigarette fall on the ground, crushing it under his left foot.

A wagon finally arrived close to them, and Hasegawa waved at them to get in. It was empty, meaning that they both had to get into it. They were only three to wait in the solo line so they all climbed in, Gintoki being the only one obviously enjoying it. To make it worse, the unknown man sat on the right side, forcing Hijikata to sit next to Gintoki.

Before the wagon left, the silver-haired man waved at Hasegawa, screaming ‘See you on the other side, Hasegawa!’ The man waved back with a small smile, and the wagon started to move. They entered what looked like a small cave, water on the left side and grass with ducks on the other.

The rail then went up, and Hijikata knew that a slope was coming. Not that he was scared or anything, but he didn’t want that dumbass next to him to throw up whatever sugary treat he had eaten minutes ago. Right when he thought that, the latter spoke up.

‘If you’re here, does that mean that the whole Shinsengumi is?’ Hijikata raised a brow, was the asshole making conversation?

‘Yeah, Kondou’s suggestion’, Hijikata answered, dubious.

‘Ah! So that’s what you do with our taxes huh? Unbelievable!’, the silver-haired man exclaimed. Hijikata was ready to protest but the wagon had reached the top when they were talking and suddenly started its descent. In the spur of the moment, he held onto whatever was close to the bar holding them in place and shut his eyes tightly. He’d never been a fan of free falling. He was still gripping whatever he was holding tightly and heard a faint grunt on his left as the wagon initiated a descent.

He heard the noise before feeling it, the splashing sound the trolley made as it hit the water, followed quickly by the small waves crashing against them, drenching everyone inside with no exception. Annoyed, Hijikata opened his eyes to check the distance between their wagon and the end of the ride and realised that it was almost over. Turning his gaze on the left, he realised that he was still holding onto something and had the nasty surprise to realise that he’d been holding onto the Yorozuya’s arm all this time. Releasing it violently, his eyes caught sight of the dripping strands of silver hair in front of him, and of a haircut that couldn’t be called a perm anymore.

He caught himself staring and turned his head on the opposite side, fixing the bank where he could distinguish a red silhouette waving at them and a pair of red eyes fixing him. Somehow, there was a weirdly threatening aura emanating from it and he found himself wanting the ride to last just a little bit longer to delay the return on the land. At his side Gintoki was waving back, his left hand in his hair trying to get rid of the water in it. If the man had noticed Hijikata clinging onto him during the descent, he’d said nothing. Still, as Hijikata finally climbed out of the wagon, he warily eyed the man, making sure that he wasn’t going to pull a last minute prank on him. Nothing like that happened.

As he straightened up, he was greeted by an excited Yamazaki rambling about the attraction, Sougo behind, looking constipated as it seemed like he was doing a glaring contest with the China girl. Though the boy didn’t seem as threatening as he usually did since he was still holding that horrendous stuffed crab Hijikata refused to call “Crabby-kun”. The Vice-Commander frowned as he looked around in search of his commander. He was met with the sight of Shinpachi calmly talking with his sister.

After a closer inspection he realised that Shinpachi was, in fact, trying to calm his sister down as the woman was trying to run after something. Hijikata didn’t need to see it to understand what it was all about and, with a sigh, he stepped away from the platform, being too close to the water to his taste. Yamazaki was now talking about anpans and Hijikata jumped at the chance the man offered him, ‘Why don’t you go buying anpans, then, Yamazaki?’, hoping that his creeping headache would subside at the departure of his talkative subordinate. The man nodded quickly as he ran further into the park in quest of somewhere to buy his not so precious anpans.

Hijikata was about to set off in the opposite direction when a voice arose behind him, ‘Trying to get rid of Jimmy, Hijikata-kun? That’s not really nice of you, officer’. Hijikata didn’t even bother to answer, walking away faster. But he didn’t go too far as Kondou’s voice called him out and he was forced to turn back to see his commander wave at him. Squinting his eyes, Hijikata sighed as he walked towards him, ready to offer a hand to Kondou even though he wasn’t feeling like confronting that demon of a woman right now. Or never, for that matter.

Reaching the small group, he was relieved to see that Kondou seemed pretty fine and that Shinpachi had succeeded in soothing his sister. It was a relief but he knew it would be a short-lived one as the Yorozuya joined them again. Weirdly enough, no one was screaming anymore and even Sougo and the China girl had stopped their bickering in favour of bitching on the passerby’s outfits. For once in his life, people listened to Yamazaki as the latter walked towards another attraction, talking joyfully with Shinpachi. They were quickly joined by Kondou and Otae, the commander loudly talking about whatever was crossing his mind. Otae didn’t even seem to listen to him, calling Kagura instead who joined her straight back, dodging Sougo’s attempt of tripping her swiflty. The latter grunted, joining the small group while whistling, making a kid trip on his way.

Hijikata hesitated between following them or sneaking off while no one paid attention to him. But for once, the prospect of being alone seemed less interesting than being with his friends. If he had to pass the whole day in crowds of whining children, he may as well pass it in a crowd of idiots he was used to. He walked in their direction, hands in his pockets and eyes drifting from faces to faces, the Vice-Commander still being alert even on his day off. Behind him, Gintoki said his goodbye to Hasegawa, waving at him and shouting that he would be back. Internally, Hijikata smiled, at least the poor man had a pause from the Yorozuyas, maybe he’d have a chance to keep his job, for once.

Gintoki finally reached him, falling into his steps as he lazily picked his nose, eyeing the people around. Yet Hijikata could see the glances he threw to their small group beyond them, paying attention to his kids. Hijikata found himself thinking that it was fine, actually, walking casually in an amusement park with his “friends” -he would never call them that way outloud- with no job in sight. Gintoki wasn’t that annoying when he didn’t talk, a shame his mouth never seemed to be able to close when he was around.

They walked in silence for quite some time, Yamazaki and Shinpachi seemingly unable to come to an agreement on which attraction they should do next. The park wasn’t full today since it was a weekday, the breeze of late October was fresh but not so cold, which was pleasant. Hijikata was wearing an overcoat, just like everyone else, and it seemed that even the Yorozuya had pulled his red coat on, forgetting his usual blue scarf. The group came to a halt in the middle of a crossroads, and Hijikata spotted here and there familiar faces, his men scrambling away when they spotted their superiors. The Vice-Commander was delighted to see that even on his day off, his men feared him. Good for them.

They finally moved again, leaving the intersection to turn on the left towards what seemed to be the rougher attractions’ area. Kagura was excitedly pointing at big rides with never-ending railings, Yamazaki joining her in her ranting. Finally, the pair finally settled onto a roller-coaster, and Hijikata was urged to get closer as Kondou walked towards him, throwing an arm around his shoulders to bring him closer. The attraction looked like a ship, something close to a junk, with a dozen booths of two people each.

Yamazaki climbed in a seat, followed by a hesitant Shinpachi who was almost pushed by Kagura into his seat. The latter climbed behind the pair, Otae following her straight. Without any surprise, Kondou climbed behind the girls, and Sougo took the place next to his Commander. Sighing at the looks his friends threw him, Hijikata took a seat behind them, watching the people passing on his left. He didn’t realise that the only person left to climb at his side would be the silver-haired samurai. Damnit. But it was already too late, he’d climbed at the end of the booth seat and couldn’t get out anymore, as the Yorozuya was blocking the way.

Gintoki turned his head towards him, a huge grin plastered on his face, ‘What a face you’re making, Vice-commander! Are you anxious? Are you scared? Would the great Hijikata-kun be by any means afraid of roller coasters?, the man teased and Hijikata grunted, sinking into his seat as he pushed Gintoki’s face away with his left hand. Thankfully, Gintoki’s rambling was stopped by an employee of the park walking towards them, asking Hijikata to get his arm back against his body. The raven-haired man complied as the employee pushed the imposing safety bar. Hijikata already didn’t like to have his movement restricted, but with this huge thing blocking his movements, he was feeling uneasy and jittery. This didn’t seem to bother the man on his left as the samurai was chatting loudly with Sougo in front of them, laughing at how Otae kept ignoring Kondou even though the man was 2 centimetres away from her.

Hijikata turned his head to look away from him, turning his attention to the scenery of the attraction. There were artificial lawns on both sides of the track, and the roller coaster seemed to have a space theme and the sky ships. It was a weird sight, a stone’s throw away from the wooden houses that sold dangos and other junk food. Hijikata could feel his mood turning morose as his thoughts trailed down to other subjects and he was only taken aback by the sudden movement of the fake spaceship they were in. The wagon went forth with a loud grinding noise and Hijikata felt his heart drop at the noise. Okay he wasn’t fond of such attractions, but surely a sound like this wasn’t normal, right? Right?

The wagon slowly climbed the slope and Hijikata turned his head away from the side where he could see the ground moving away. Instead, he turned his head towards the man at his side. Gintoki was looking at the ground, chuckling at something that might have been funny, but Hijikata missed it, being too focused on the man beside him. At least when he looked at the Yorozuya, the ground wasn’t in his line of sight. Suddenly the wagon stopped and Gintoki turned towards him, a blinding smile on his face as his eyes were almost closed, the sun behind Hijikata blinding the man. The yorozuya said something, but Hijikata didn’t catch it as the spaceship moved again, going downhill at high speed.

The Vice-commander gripped the bar holding him in place tightly, closing his eyes as the sun blinded him as well, Gintoki was silent at his side while he could vaguely make out China’s loud giggles wagons away from him and the Shimura-boy screams even further away. The descent slowed slightly, allowing Hijikata to open his eyes again, the wagon rolling next to a fake space scenery. The Vice-Commander caught movement on his left and turned to look at the Yorozuya at his side. Gintoki was focused on watching the sky, a small smile plastered on his face as the wind was blowing on his tousled mop of silver hair. There was a small blush on his cheeks that Hijikata assumed was caused by the wind hitting his face. He was cute like that, with sunbeams dancing in his hair and a pacified look on his face, Hijikata thought.

As the poor officer caught himself thinking that, he turned to look away quickly, a small blush gracing his cheeks as he shook his head to make these thoughts disappear. The spaceship was already nearing its stops and Hijikata was glad that this was the end, he needed to put some distance between the Yorozuya and himself. The said Yorozuya took his sweet time to get out of the wagon when it stopped though.

As Hijikata finally got out and walked away, joining Kondou and Yamazaki, Kagura walked past them, a hand on her gurgling stomach and the other one searching her jacket’s pockets. She paused, frowning as she seemed to not be able to find what she was looking for. Hijikata watched the scene from behind as the kid ran to the Yorozuya, shouting something along the lines of “Gin-chan I’m hungry” and “feed me”. It sounded all the same to Hijikata. Gintoki was about to say something when he was interrupted by Otae who, surprisingly, turned towards the Shinsengumi’s officers. ‘Well, well, well, Gorilla-san do you hear that? This poor girl’s stomach thinks her throat’s been cut, and I’m hungry too, wouldn’t you want to buy us some lunch?’, said the devilish woman with a fake-nice smile plastered on her face. The Vice-Commander barely held himself from facepalming when his Commander fell into the trap with no hesitation, jumping into it, even.

Kondou happily walked over the small group getting his wallet out as the girls were leading him towards the nearest stand food. Halfway between the leaving group and the Shinsengumi’s, Gintoki seemed to hesitate before turning his head towards Hijikata. His eyes were filled with mischief and smirked as he raised a brow towards the group of men, ‘Looks like we’re getting some of our taxes back thanks to your Commander, huh’, before he followed the small group.

Hijikata didn’t keep himself from snorting as he said ‘As if you paid any taxes, Yorozuya’ and walked after them. Behind him he missed the look Sougo and Yamazaki shot at each other when they heard the almost gentle tone their superior had used just now with the Yorozuya, so far from his usual direct and threatening one.

When Hijikata finally joined the Yorozuyas’ group they had already sat down at the picnic table and were reading the small menu. The Vice-Commander sat down as well, at his Commander’s left, and the latter happily clapped a hand on his back as he practically screamed in his ear ‘TOSHI, get whatever you want, today’s on me!’, to which both the Yato girl and the Yorozuya cheered, Otae still sporting her fake smile like a second skin.

The only one that seemed somewhat bothered by it was the Shimura boy, who smiled apologetically at Hijikata when their eyes caught each others’. The boy simply said ‘We’ll pay him back another time’, but both knew it was empty air.

Sitting down at Gintoki’s side, Sougo snorted as he retorted ‘It’s better to see him buying us food than to squander his money in a certain bar of Kabukichou’.

True to herself, the gorilla woman joined the conversation swiftly -by thumping the table, obviously- and shot to the brat a deadly glare, ‘What did you say about squandering money? Your superior simply chooses the best establishment to which he gives money, that’s all, keep your vicious tongue for yourself, brat’. It probably was the first time Hijikata had ever heard the Shimura woman say something seemingly nice about his Commander.

And just like that, the discussion was launched. Already Hijikata had stopped listening, refocusing on the menu in front of him. He heard a soft chuckle seconds after and looked up again to catch a glimpse of Gintoki’s look towards the bittering group. Hijikata hadn’t realised that he’d sat right in front of the man. The latter turned towards him, eyes full of fondness and shot him a simple and genuine smile, his dimples showing up. Hijikata shot him back a small smile as the waiter approached and they both placed an order for the whole table as no one paid attention to the food anymore.

Surprisingly, the rest of the meal went swiftly as the food quickly arrived, cooling down any argument that could have been left open. From time to time Hijikata’s eyes would meet Gintoki’s, and the disagreeable remarks Hijikata expected never came. As everyone finished their dessert and Kondou paid the awfully high bill, the group seemed to scatter a little, everyone wanting to do different activities.

With a hand still picking his nose, Gintoki walked over to his kids, gently patting China’s head as they talked. The scene could have been almost endearing, had it not been for the silver-haired man trying to put his boogey on Kagura’s clothes and the girl beating him up in retaliation. Getting up and away from the samurai’s corpse, the red-haired girl decided that it was time to go to the children’s attractions where kids ran everywhere and climbed on rocking horses and other playground. Hijikata doubted that the place of such a monster was amongst kids, but he shrugged it off.

Weirdly enough Sougo followed her suit into the park, and Hijikata realised that, since the pen was packed with kids, the sadistic teenager would probably take over the place in only a matter of minutes. Somehow Hijikata decided to ignore it and look away. Whatever would happen here was not his problem, and he’d rather not find out. He was already dealing with Sougo’s shenanigans daily, he could allow himself a pause on his day off. In fact, this was his cue to finally take his opportunity to split up with the others and get away. The escape so dearly awaited was finally his, and he had no hesitation as he bypassed the playground, disappearing into the crowd of families and children without looking behind him.

Hijikata walked as far as he could from the place he’d been minutes before. It wouldn’t do if they found him quickly, not that he thought that they’d look for him. Kondou already knew that he preferred to be alone, and Sougo could still pretend that he was the Vice-Commander while Hijikata wasn’t here, all the while Hijikata could simply walk around and finally start enjoying his free time, so everyone was happy like that.

He wasn’t really fond of attractions so at first he simply walked into the alleys, stopping to watch some roller coasters more impressive than others, grimacing when the people in the wagons stayed with their heads down for more time than what was really necessary. The thing was that, even though he didn’t have the map of the park in his head, he knew that, like every other kind of attraction park like this one, there was a remote place away from all the swarming, a greenery spot where he could sit down and eat some mayonnaise peacefully.

After walking in the same direction for around 15 minutes, he realised that there were already less people around, and that he’d reached a wooded place. The cobblestone ground was stopping and giving way to a dirt track. He decided to sink into the woods in front of him, and even though the path probably was forbidden to the visitors, no one seemed to be around to stop him. Weirdly enough, the path didn’t lead to a maintenance building but to a small meadow with a bench on the left side.

_Jackpot_ , Hijikata thought as he walked towards it, dropping on the wooden laths with a sigh as he let his head drop backward. His bangs fell away from his eyes as he looked at the blue and grey sky. The light had lowered, greyish clouds taking over the sunbeams, and it seemed that the weather had gotten more windy. Though he couldn’t feel it as he was surrounded by trees, leaves protecting him and only letting a soft breeze reach him.

After what felt like an eternity but was only just a few hours, Hijikata reached for his cigarette packet into his inside pocket, grabbing his lighter in the same time. Putting a cigarette between his lips, he placed a hand around the tip to protect the flame from the wind, lighting it easily, a movement ingrained in his body as he’d done it uncountable times. He threw his head back once more as he finally, finally, took a drag. He knew he was addicted, but as the Shinsengumi’s Vice-Commander, rare were the times when he was asked to stop smoking and he diligently accepted it. Even Matsudaira smoked, so he was totally unbothered when it came to smoking on work time.

He stretched as he let himself slide onto the bench, laying on his back, an arm over his eyes to hide the bothering sun from his sight. But it wasn’t the best position to smoke and he didn’t want to end up with ashes falling onto his face, so he tapped the cigarette over the ground, letting the ashes fall onto it. He took a last drag before crushing the cigarette onto the side of the bench and putting it onto a tissue in his inside pocket. He might be smoking in a prohibited place, but he wasn’t going to leave his stub on the grass for all that. He scratched the side of his neck with his right hand, laying it on his stomach after he was done, his sword’s guard always within easy reach of his good hand. He finally closed his eyes, relaxing with the sound of the wind blowing through the branches and the squawking of the small birds jumping from crown of maples to crown of oaks.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I hope that you liked it!
> 
> It really is the first time that I have to split a fic in two because it's too long ahah!  
> Also, I'll post the second chapter in a few days, so please keep an eye on this fic, and you can even eventually subscribe to it!
> 
> A special thanks to the wonderful Rai who beta read this fic, she was of great help!
> 
> Please leave some kudos and comments, it always makes me so happy to read them!! :D


	2. Never agree to follow kids once night comes, it’s a trap!

He hadn’t expected to fall asleep, at least not into such a deep sleep. He’d had gotten eventful missions lately and had indeed awaited his day off with great expectations, but he had definitely not expected to fall asleep in the middle of the day. Yet, after a couple of hours, he woke up, the sun not so high in the sky anymore and actually starting its descent.

He stirred with a grunt, blinking the sleepiness away as he stretched his arms. He yawned slightly as he looked around, taking in his surroundings. He froze, because there definitely weren’t any grass that green surrounding the Shinsengumi’s barrack and that the soreness in his back wasn’t due to his nap on his futon but on a wooden bench. He sat up, craning his neck around to realise that there were only trees around him.

Slowly, the fogginess in his brain cleared up and he remembered Kondou waking him that morning with a loud voice, excitedly talking about the amusement park they were going to that day. He also remembered the encounter with the Yorozuya and the lunch offered by his Commander. He sighed, rubbing his face with his right hand as he stood up. At least he hadn’t been forced to do any more attractions for the day with that nap, seeing the sky, he was sure that the Shinsengumi’s men were probably already gathering at the exit of the park.

He easily exited the small meadow but once he reached the cobblestone ground, Hijikata realised that he had no idea which path he was supposed to follow. He decided to follow his instinct, taking the way on his left. He walked in silence, only his footsteps resonating in this empty side of the park. He was slightly startled by the street lights switching on as he walked past it and he realised that the night was really falling and that it would be a good idea to reach back the centre of the park.

He reached an intersection and was about to turn to the left again when he heard voices coming from the opposite path. Frowning, he turned towards the noise only to be greeted by a familiar shade of orange and red and voices that were actually more close to screams than a normal discussion. Looking around as he got closer, Hijikata met a familiar pair of red eyes and was stopped in his tracks as he realised that he’d ended up face to face with the Yorozuya. Well, the Yorozuya, China, the glasses boy and also.. Sougo.

He turned around and walked away. Maybe if he just left without saying a word they would forget that they’d seen him. Like when it comes to bears and bulls you have to avoid eye contact and not move, maybe when it came to samurais, sadists and Yatos it was the contrary? Maybe when meeting these creatures you had to look at them in the eye to assert dominance and then leave quickly? Yeah, it would do. Hijikata sped up as he mumbled to himself.

However, he was quickly stopped by a boulder crashing down the ground centimetres away from his feet and he heard Sougo’s voice in the way too silent park, ‘Hijikata-san where are you going? Come with us, it’s starting to be night and we wouldn’t want an unfortunate drama to happen to you, right? Think about the kids that would discover your corpse in the middle of the park tomorrow morning, Hijikata-kun’. Hijikata wasn’t actually sure these threats were not actually meant to make him leave on his own, but he still turned to look at the small group.

Gintoki was actually scolding Kagura for having thrown the boulder and Hijikata walked closer, surprised that Gintoki was worried about his safety as he overheard ‘ I don’t want you to destroy the park, we already don’t have money to pay for your food, there certainly isn’t enough money to get a lawsuit from the park because you were not able to properly shoot the tax-thief’. Okay, Hijikata took back what he thought, the man was an asshole to the end.

Sougo talked again, and Hijikata didn’t like that, ‘Vice-Commander, we were looking for you for that last tour, since you let us down this afternoon like the dog you are’, he said with a neutral tone. Hijikata choked on air at the end of the sentence, grabbing the first division commander by the collar of his vest as he screamed seppuku at him. After a few seconds of berating, the Vice-Commander was stopped by an embarrassed Shinpachi urging him to let go of Sougo.

Hijikata complied with a grunt as the glasses boy started to talk, ‘We were indeed looking for you for that last visit, Hijikata-san, please come with us’. The latter frowned, his eyes meeting the Yorozuya’s as he tried to look for any hint of malice behind it. Yet there were none and all he could see was the same confusion as was probably filling his.

Gintoki shrugged, simply saying ‘They’ve been calling out for you for fifteen minutes at least, took you long enough to show up’, in a dismissive tone as he turned away and followed Shinpachi.

Behind him, Hijikata didn’t miss Kagura’s practically screamed answer to Gintoki’s words ‘Looks like Toshi really identifies himself as an asshole as he appeared right when you said it, Gin-chan!’. Slowly, Gintoki turned with a murderous glare towards his alien daughter but only locked eyes with a Shinsengumi’s Vice-Commander already drawing his sword. Losing any conviction he might have had, Gintoki ran away quickly followed by a screaming Hijikata.

Finally, the small group calmed down and they reached the place the kids wanted to show the “adults” so badly. ‘Here, Gin-san, Hijikata-san, look at that traditional house! There’s a museum in there, let’s get in!’ Shinpachi joyfully said, stepping into the house and holding the door open for them to enter.

Hijikata eyed the building warily, not liking how weird the situation was. Yet the Shimura boy had entered the place, and of all the members of the group, he was the one Hijikata trusted the most. On his right Gintoki was picking his nose with great disinterest, simply entering the room without doubting one second. This was enough to convince Hijikata to step inside the building as well. He’d seen Gintoki’s look after all, and he knew that whatever the kids were planning, the man wasn’t aware of it.

The room he’d stepped in was pretty big, only lightened by a dim light and with explanatory posters on all four walls, a corridor right in front of him seemed to lead the way to other rooms, visibly full of posters as well. This place indeed looked like a museum.

Hijikata walked to Gintoki’s side, looking at the plate fixed to the wall and filled with big writings where he could read “You are the next one. Now that you’re here, it’s already too late. Look behind you and you’ll join the others”. Hijikata frowned at the cryptic inscription. He was about to say something when he heard a grinding noise behind him, and he turned precipitously.

Shinpachi was at the door they’d entered the room through, adjusting his glasses as he was was slowly closing it. Gintoki had turned as well and asked as he walked towards the boy ‘Oï, what are you doing, Shinpachi?’.

The boy only grinned as he closed the door, screaming through it from outside ‘SORRY GIN-SAN BUT IT’S FOR YOUR OWN GOOD’.

Gin-san threw himself at the door, turning the doorknob furiously. As it didn’t even budge, he pushed it with his shoulder, but stopped as he heard a loud noise coming from behind the door. ‘Have fun Gin-chan, don’t try to open the door you won’t be able to with the rock I’ve just put in front of it!’, answered Kagura slyly.

Gintoki was banging on the door now, screaming at the top of his lungs ‘KAGURA, SHINPACHIII, OPEN THAT DOOR OR I WON’T FEED YOUR FOR THE MONTH TO COME’. All he could hear was laughter and voices moving away.

Hijikata walked to the door, trying to open it but realised that it was definitely blocked. He was about to scream but Sougo answered him before he had the time to ‘Don’t worry Hijikata-san, I’ll be a good Vice-Commander and tell everyone how valiantly you died drowning in the alligator’s tanks while fishing for your non-existent dignity!’. Hijikata wanted to retort that there were no alligator tanks in the park but realised that the kids’ snickers had already stopped, indicating that they’d left them for real.

Silence settled in the room as they both realised that the brats really had locked them up into the weird museum. Almost comically, they both turned their head towards each other synchronously, scrutinizing the other’s eyes to make sure that they weren’t involved in this curious predicament. When Hijikata observed that Gintoki seemed to be in the same state of wonder and lack of understanding as himself, he stepped back from the door, turned on his heels and looked at the plate with critical eyes. What was it even supposed to mean? Behind him Gintoki grunted before making his way to the next room.

Hijikata didn’t even have the time to look up before Gintoki stepped back and reached his side, eyes fixed onto the plate. ‘You know what? I think I’m good here, we can still feel a little breeze coming from the door, someone’s going to find us sooner or later anyway. And continuing into the museum would be like following the kids wishes, and we’re better than that, right Hijikata-kun?’ Gintoki said quickly, almost too fast for Hijikata to follow.

Hijikata raised a brow at that, a smug grin forming on his lips as he walked towards the room Gintoki’d just stepped away from, saying nonchalantly ‘My, my, my, Yorozuya, are you scared or something? That ain’t really samuraish, rig-’ -he stopped himself short, eyes fixed to the walls in front of him. The room was significantly larger, and contrary to the room he’d just left, there was nothing placated to the walls. Instead, there was a doorway on each four walls -Hijikata was standing on one of them-, above which were written in crimson red shade “Choose the wrong doorway and your life’s over”. Okay.

Hijikata stepped back, the room they were in didn’t seem to be that bad in the end. Gintoki was right, it wouldn’t be bad to just stay here and wait for someone to get them. Kondou wouldn’t leave the park without him, right? Gintoki moved close to him, to his right side, tilting his head to look into his eyes. ‘See? I told you we were good here, I’m sure someone has already noticed that we were missing, Hasegawa has my back!’, Gintoki said, more to reassure himself than to really talk to Hijikata.

But the latter didn’t really like that, Gintoki’s proximity made Hijikata’s heart race even more than the prospect of walking into the wrong room, and sleep was still making his mind foggy. He cleared his throat, stepping away from the man and into the room in front of him, simply saying ‘Well stay here all you want, but I’ve got things to do, I’m not unemployed like you’ -the remark was totally gratuitous, Hijikata was aware of that, but he liked to snipe at the man, he knew the Yorozuya wasn’t holding back when he could tease the Vice-Commander either-.

Gintoki gasped unnecessarily loudly, quickly answering with his most falsely offended voice ‘How can you say that, Hijikata-kun, when my precious work keeps the city from collapsing on itself due to boor like you? I can’t believe how ungrateful you are!’.

Hijikata sighed, choosing the doorway on his left as he simply said ‘Let’s split up’. He entered the room before he could hear the Yorozuya’s reply. The room was nothing like the previous one he’d entered. There were portraits hanged on the walls of various women and men, all looking pretty much dead, and there weren’t names written under it but dates instead. The raven-haired man didn’t want to know what it was supposed to coincide with. He was about to step closer to one when he heard a highly familiar scream from a room behind him, immediately followed by erratic footsteps.

A definitely really familiar silvery perm entered his sight at the same time as a new scream reached his ears. Gintoki practically lurched himself onto Hijikata but stopped just seconds away from it. The room stayed silent, echoes of Gintoki’s scream slowly dying down before the silvery-haired man finally spoke up ‘You know what? We say that strength is unity, and I think that it’s a pretty good saying, sounds good to the ears, yeah? So I think it’s better if we stay together, let’s not diminish our chances, yeah?’, his voice almost wavering. Hijikata didn’t say a thing as he looked at the man in front of him who was desperately trying to regain a semblance of breath and composure. He rubbed his eyes with his left hand and simply answered ‘Fine’, before reporting his attention back onto the pictures.

All the people seemed to be around their thirties, and the dates didn’t go older than 17 years ago. At his side, Gintoki had started looking around as well, Hijikata could see him frowning from the corner of his eyes. The Vice-Commander was almost startled when Gintoki talked, ‘There’s no way Kagura and the sadist boy could have accepted to cooperate and Shinpachi to agree to take part of it if it’s not interesting enough. Their plan contains at least one death, I’m sure of it. This type of collaboration only happens on full moon nights and days when Ketsuno Ana gives a bad prediction about weather, which, I assure you, never happens’.

‘I know the accuracy rate of Ketsuno Ana’s weather prediction, dumbass, shut up. The mere fact that your kids and Sougo were hanging out without arguing should have made you realise that something was up, asshole’, Hijikata retorted, feeling pissed off by Gintoki for no apparent reason. He simply ascribed it to the man’s annoying presence.

Once they finished looking at the portraits, the option was simple, they could either turn around and walk back into the room with four doorways, or keep walking further into this path. Gintoki hadn’t talked about what he’d seen into the room he’d gone into, but Hijikata obviously mentally crossed it off the list. Somehow the Vice-Commander didn’t feel like retracing his steps since the first thing he’d seen into the museum was “Don’t look back”. Gintoki didn’t seem to have any internal debate since he crossed the room in quick stride and almost walked into the next room ahead of them. He almost did but stopped on the doorstep, turning towards Hijikata expectantly, as if he didn’t dare to step forward and go alone.

Too lazy to tease the man and get into a useless argument, Hijikata simply followed Gintoki, both men entering the other room at the same time. The thing with this museum was that the lighting was bad, and each room seemed purposefully separated by just a little bit of darkness, giving to each change of rooms a shady atmosphere. So when they stepped into the next room, there was a second where they didn’t see anything as their eyes needed to adapt. And when the adaptation was done, they were greeted by the sight of themselves, with pale skin and red scorch over the face. It took them time to realise that they were actually facing a modified mirror, and that the only thing in front of them was a simple reflection. There was under the mirror the same plate as under the portraits of the other room, a date carved into a plate. It was today’s date.

Hijikata felt Gintoki unconsciously stepping closer to him, their arms now touching, and it seemed that only Hijikata was aware of that. Gintoki didn’t seem to mind, but it was another thing for the raven-haired man. His mind was racing and every centimetres Gintoki got closer to him only made the Vice-Commander want to lean onto the other man even more.

Shaking the thoughts away, the raven-haired man noted that the room they were in was much smaller than the others, and seemed to have the only goal which was having the people entering it see themselves in the mirror. Though the left and right side both had a doorway, which meant another choice had to be made. ‘I’m going into the room on the left’, Hijikata said, and Gintoki simply hummed in acknowledgment, following suit.

They were about to enter the room when Hijikata felt a hand on his shoulder. He frowned as he turned behind him to look at Gintoki, ready to insult him, but he was instead met by the decomposing face of a man looking straight at him and being the owner of the hand onto his shoulder. The words he was going to get out died in his mouth as it was replaced by a scream he’d never admit was his own. He tried to step away from the grip but the thing was holding tight. At his side Gintoki had screamed out of pure fear from Hijikata’s scream but was now realising what was going on.

Instead of running away like the raven-haired man was expecting him to do, the silver-haired man lunged towards Hijikata, launching an uppercut to the thing and Hijikata swore that he heard something crack. He didn’t have the time to stop and think about it anyway because Gintoki was still moving, and without looking back he grabbed Hijikata’s right hand and started running away.

It was weird, but a strange warmth filled Hijikata’s chest as he realised that Gintoki had chosen to run away with him instead of just leaving him with the thing. Not like Hijikata couldn’t have hit the damn thing himself, of course he could have, he’d actually would have done it if the perm-head hadn’t done it first. But still.

They ran through rooms and corridors, and Hijikata thought that this museum was really big. After having passed 3 times in front of the same sign saying “I can see you”, Hijikata decided to slow down. But Gintoki didn’t even realise, and the Vice-Commander had to grab his shoulder to bring him back to his senses.

The silvery-haired man almost punched the other man on the face from how startled he was but he stopped mere inches from the other’s face. Hijikata sighed as he pushed the man against a side of the closest wall, looking at him in the eyes as he talked ‘Calm the fuck down. We’re going in circles, it’s stupid, it’ll be easier to find the way out without running’.

Gintoki eyed him sceptically but didn’t answer, and Hijikata realised the position they were in. Blushing wildly, the Vice-Commander pushed himself away and started to walk away, suddenly very interested with the content of the next room. It looked as weird as the others and was presenting two doors facing each other. One was heavily illuminated, while the other was plunged into darkness. They had obviously always turned into the lighted one when they were running seconds ago, and the raven-haired man cringed as he realised that it meant that they had to walk into the pitch black one if they wanted to get into the further part of the museum.

Gintoki, who had joined him not so long ago, seemed to understand the same thing as he started to make pitiful whines. ‘I’m not going into this room, Gin-san is like a solar panel, if he doesn’t have any light, he doesn’t work properly’, he said as he tried to step away.

Hijikata snorted as he retorted ‘Light or not, you never work’, before adding ‘We can’t turn around, and if we take the lighted path, we’ll just end up going in circles again, let’s go’. He punctuated his sentence with steps, crossing the doorway as he ended it. Behind him Gintoki followed suit, too scared to stay alone.

The room was indeed pitch black, and they didn’t have any other choice than to stretch out their arms in front of them to make sure they weren’t walking into walls or anything else. Gintoki was surprisingly glued to Hijikata’s side, body tense at each step he took. Hijikata could hear Gintoki’s slowing breath as he was catching his breath from their run. The Vice-Commander found himself enjoying the sound, his mind wandering as he imagined others reasons that could make the man go breathless like that. He was thankful for the darkness of the room because he was sure that his cheeks were bright red, and he shook his head to get rid of the annoying thoughts. Why would he be thinking about that? Did he hit his head against something or what?

He was pulled away from his thoughts as he heard noises coming from the man at his side. As he picked up his ears, Hijikata realised that Gintoki was actually singing something that suspiciously sounded like the Doraemon opening. The man was about to laugh at the scared samurai when he heard voices coming from behind them. He was about to notify Gintoki when the man screamed at the top of his lungs as he jumped onto Hijikata’s arm, holding him for dear life.

Confused, the raven-haired man started running again, dragging the still screaming Yorozuya with him. They almost ploughed into the wall, in front of them but a sparkle of light caught Hijikata’s attention and he saw it coming. Once again they were forced to choose a path and for once he decided to go the right one. Bad choice. They came face to face with a weird looking ghost, and if Hijikata had thought that he’d heard the worst of Gintoki’s yells, he was proven wrong by this apparition. Stepping back, they retraced their steps and walked into the room on the left. This one actually had a door and didn’t feature any other doorway but a staircase instead. Though there were maybe other things in the room, but Hijikata couldn’t be sure since only the stairs were lighted, and he had no desire to check it.

Gintoki still holding onto his arm, Hijikata closed the door and sat behind him. There wasn’t any bolt but both of their weight would probably be enough to hold back anyone who would want to enter. Hijikata sighed as he let his head drop against the cold surface. At his side, Gintoki was focused on singing the same song as earlier, his hair brushing the side of Hijikata’s neck. If it wasn’t for the circumstances, Hijikata could have almost enjoyed the moment. It wasn’t everyday that the silvery samurai showed any sign of affection. Not that him holding his arm was affection. And not that Hijikata wanted any affection from the man. Of course not. Why would he want such a thing? That’s ridiculous!

He decided to talk to distract himself, ‘Oï, we’ve got to find a way out of this, right? You were right when you said that the kids plotting together was suspicious’, he said slowly, almost whispering. It seemed to soothe the man somehow because Gintoki’s breathing slowed down a bit, and he answered not long after.

‘When I’ll find them it’ll be the end of those three scumbags, I can’t believe Shinpachi agreed to that? How dare he! I trusted him! He was the chosen one!’ he scoffed, offended.

At his side, Hijikata shook his head, ‘That was your mistake, you should never trust kids, they’re devils with angels’ faces’, he said.

Gintoki snorted, ‘Angel faces? I don’t see any angel in the face of a 14 years old girl that picks at her nose and constantly stuffs herself with Sukonbu’. Hijikata chuckled without even realising it.

This felt weird, having a casual discussion with Gintoki. The worst part of it probably was that the predicament in which they were wasn’t even the surprising part of his evening. Wherever they went, things always turned to shit when it was just the two of them. So yeah, no matter who chased them, where they were, and the time it was, the strange feeling Hijikata felt probably came from the fact that he and Gintoki were having a casual discussion with none of them screaming. Hijikata liked it.

Yet, no matter how pleasant it was, his adrenaline was slowly receding, and his mind not racing anymore, the lack of nicotine was making itself known and his fidgeting increased. His left hand darted to the inside pocket of his jacket to fish his cigarette packet out. Gintoki was looking at him with a raised brow, and Hijikata couldn’t stop himself from saying something, because there was no way the silvery man was going to stop him from smoking, ‘What? As far as I know, there’s no kid here’.

Gintoki shrugged, simply answering ‘I’m not a cop, I won’t stop you’. Hijikata shook his head, finally taking his lighter out and lighting his cigarette. He took a drag, keeping the smoke inside a little before exhaling, the smoke filling the room. It seemed that Gintoki was about to say something, but he was stopped by an awfully loud sound.

The ringing was loud and appalling, forcing both men to put their hands on their ears to avoid losing any hearing. Seconds only after the start of the ringing, the room they were in had its lights switched on and both men were blinded by the force of the lights. ‘What the fuck’ said Hijikata, confused.

‘Sounds like a fire alarm, your smoke probably triggered it’, Gintoki screamed over the noise. In front of them, a door opened and Hijikata realised that it led outside. Putting his cigarette between his lips, Hijikata grabbed Gintoki’s left arm. The samurai still had his eyes closed because of the sudden outburst of light and followed without a word.

As soon as they stepped a foot outside, a small breeze hit them, contrasting with the almost suffocating warmth of the inside of the museum. This made Gintoki open his eyes, and he looked around, incredulous. ‘We’re out??’, he said, more to himself than anything.

Hijikata snorted, ‘If we’re not then it’s one hell of a good simulation, heh’. Gintoki turned around, spotting a sign not far away, which he walked towards. Behind him, Hijikata took over the dark sky and fished his phone out of his pocket. There was no network, but the clock indicated 6pm. The sun set early in late October, but Hijikata hadn’t expected it to be this late. Though the park only closed in an hour if his memory served him well, so they still had time to get back to their group in time.

Hijikata was taken out of his reverie by Gintoki’s loud gasp. The Vice-Commander frowned as he walked to him, reading the sign as he reached it. “Entry to the Haunted House: 200 metres away”.

Hijikata opened his mouth so big that he almost dropped his cigarette. So the kids had trapped them into a stupid Haunted House? The little shits. Gintoki had been right. Speaking of the devil, the man’s shoulders were slowly shaking. Hijikata turned to get a better look at him right at the moment when Gintoki burst into laughter, his arms holding his ribs. The sound was lovely to the Vice-Commander’s ears and his laugh was infectious because soon Hijikata was roaring with laughter as well, the ridiculousness of their stupidity making it hard for him to hold back his tears.

It took way too long for both of them to finally stop laughing, each man starting again as they heard the other. When they finally calmed, they followed the path indicated by the sign, realising that this indeed looked like a cheap haunted house. They would have caught onto the thing if they’d seen it, which could surely explain why the kids had made them enter the attraction through what probably was an emergency exit. Hijikata should have probably wondered how they’d ended up getting their plan to work, but he decided that this was a job for the future Hijikata.

It was obvious that the closure of the park was nearing, because the alleys were almost empty, all the other people gathering onto the shops and attractions closer to the exits. In the comfortable silence of their walk, a thought crossed Hijikata’s mind. He chuckled as the realisation dawned on him. ‘Then this means that there’s a poor guy in this haunted house that is currently sporting a black eye right now simply because he was doing his job’, he said, a snicker in his voice.

Gintoki’s shoulders tensed as he grumbled ‘Yeah well I should have let you get caught and should have ran away on my own’.

Hijikata snorted, taking a drag from his cigarette and holding it with his right hand, answering, ‘And you would have ended up going in a circle for hours and would still be stuck in there if it wasn’t for me’. The silver-haired man didn’t answer.

‘It wasn’t a reproach, though’, Hijikata said, not really a thank you, but still an acknowledgement to the action of the man. Gintoki only hummed as an answer and it seemed that it closed the discussion once again.

They walked in complete silence, following the path formed by the lights streets up until Hijikata felt a hand brushing against his. Hijikata’s heart skipped a bit as he turned his head towards Gintoki with confused and wide eyes. He caught a glimpse of a smile on the man’s lips before the feeling of fingertips on his skin stopped, Gintoki snatching the cigarette he was holding from his right hand, and bringing it to his lips. The silver-haired man took a drag, making direct eye contact with the Vice-Commander, and the latter had to clench his firsts with all his strength to stop himself from doing something stupid like kissing the smile away from those lips. He turned his head away, the sight of Gintoki smoking with a charming smile on his lips burned in his retina.

Hijikata tsked, ‘I don't remember ever allowing you to steal my cigarette’, he said.

‘And I don’t remember allowing my taxes to be stolen by people like you’, Gintoki answered tit for tat.

This made the raven-haired man chuckle, ‘As if you paid taxes to begin with’.

‘How can you be sure that I don’t? That’s not really fair of you Oogushi-kun, how- sshit’, Gintoki said, stopping mid-sentence as he suddenly dropped the cigarette on the ground and stomped on it quickly, pushing the remaining ashes away.

Hijikata was about to protest when someone reached them, voice stern and firm ‘Were you smoking? I can not allow such a man to be close to my little brother and Kagura-chan, you’re already not paying them wages and have an ongoing addiction to pachinko, do you think developing an addiction to nicotine would do any good, Gin-san? Do you want me to take care of your finances? I would do a good job, I could even cook for you, it’ll avoid useless costs in food as well’, the gorilla woman said. Each word she said made the Yorozuya blanche even more, and the mention of the woman doing the cooking seemed to be the last straw, as all three members of the agency suddenly tried to argue and make excuses, all working for the common goal of avoiding food poisoning.

Only one person seemed to not be deterred by the offer to cook, and the person in question walked towards the bickering group with a huge grin. Though the man didn’t even have the time to open his mouth as Otae simply punched him in the face, Hijikata watched silently as his Commander was sent flying meters away. A mop of black hair ran after the flying rocket man as the Vice-Commander spotted Sougo in his peripheral vision. He didn’t have much spite in him anymore as he had somehow enjoyed the time spent with the Yorozuya, but no one needed to know that, so he simply settled for a clear ‘Don’t worry, you’ll get yours in time, little brat’. The latter simply smirked as he walked away, going back to annoy the hell out of a slightly calmed Kagura.

Behind him, the Yorozuya seemed to be scolding his kids, though they were definitely not caring at all since they snickered and laughed between them. Sighing in defeat, the Yorozuya straightened up, passing a hand through his hair as he turned. The bright street lights danced on his face and reflected into his silvery strands. A warmth spread in Hijikata’s chest as he realised how peaceful and great the day had been. It had been a while since he hadn’t spent a day with the Yorozuya that hadn’t ended up in both of them being covered in blood and cuts.

He softly smiled to himself as he strolled towards the exit where Hasegawa was waiting and waving at them. The entirety of the group began to move in the same direction, the three kids running ahead while Yamazaki and Kondou and Otae followed suit, the latter utterly ignoring Kondou as she walked faster.

Behind everyone, Gintoki and Hijikata were walking slowly, watching with a small smile on their lips their friends laughing happily. Hijikata wanted to scoot closer to the man next to him but restrained himself. He looked up to see that Gintoki was looking at him, and their eyes met for a brief moment. It was good, finally, to take a day off with the Shinsengumi, he’d have to tell Kondou about it. And if it happened that the place they would go to coincided with the place a certain Yorozuya and his kids were heading to, well he could just leave it with fate.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey so here is the second and last chapter!
> 
> I'm not used to writing fics with no angst in it so I hope that it wasn't too bad! 
> 
> A special thanks to the wonderful Rai who beta read this fic, she was of great help!
> 
> Please leave some kudos and comments, it always makes me so happy to read them!! :D


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